In computer networking, different measures are known for providing network security to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse or modification of a computer network and network-accessible resources. For example, a firewall can be implemented as a software or hardware-based network security system that controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic by analyzing the data packets and determining whether they are authorized or not, based on a set of rules. A firewall can establish a barrier between a trusted, secure internal network and another network (e.g., the Internet) that is not assumed to be secure and trusted. Even though firewalls can be suitable for many applications, most existing firewalls can, at least in theory, be circumvented and therefore may not provide adequate security in some critical applications.
Air gap networking is another security measure often taken for computers and computer networks that must be extraordinarily secure. It typically consists of ensuring that a secure network is physically, electrically, and electromagnetically isolated from insecure networks, such as the public Internet or an insecure local area network. In such configurations, it is not possible for packets or datagrams to leap across the air gap from one network to another. The upside is that an air gap network can generally be regarded as a closed system unable to be accessed from the outside world. The downside is that transferring information (from the outside world) to computers on the secure network is typically labor intensive and expensive.
Improvement is therefore desirable.